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Mezourah
The Mezourah (Drahuun for 'swarm') are a race of highly violent, sapient parasitic lifeforms. Their origin is unknown but their presence has been recorded in the Large- and Small Magellanic Clouds. Appearance The Mezourah use small larva like creatures to infect a body, once inside it can either inject super cells or leave the body as it is. When the body is kept as it is it will be used as fodder, it will attack in groups using fire arms or debris as weapons. When the super cells are injected, the body will slowly begin to mutate creating battle forms, the Mezourah will use this mutated body to attack groups of people or use it to create biomass creatures. Biomass creatures The Mezourah will gather bodies to create biomass piles, in these piles the flesh will be used to create a body while the bones are reshaped to create larger bones and in some instances even though exo-skeletons. Common The Mezourah make several commonly seen biomass creatures. Small *Tonajecta *Gialtyrto *Kerpios *Buartani *Zorar *Thuner *Yograrleg Big *Kserberon *Rogue Kserberon *Latyuna Unique The Mezourah occasionally make unique biomass creatures of which only 5 maximum are made. They create these to suit their current needs. *Tyrant *Nraken (Note: When a form has been killed the Mezourah will still be able to reuse it for their needs.) Biology The Mezourah are an anomaly in all known biology; their mode of growth and reproduction would make them incompatible with any natural ecosystem. They are extremely adaptive, and transform hosts to suit the species' current needs. Capable of surviving extreme environments ranging from -78 to +62 degrees Celsius and even underwater (to certain depths), the Mezourah can withstand the varied environments of all known colonized planets. However, they seem to thrive the most in moist and humid areas. In order to give themselves ideal living conditions, they will alter the environment to better suit their needs by covering the entire region with an organic layer. All Mezourah biomass is made of a unique, undifferentiated "Super-Cell", which relays information and coordinates the cellular assembly like conventional neural cells. It is also capable of flexing and moving like muscles, and can be arranged to mimic any bodily organ that is required for the Mezourah's use. This combination of traits has earned it the analogy of "thinking muscle", due to its versatile nature. The Mezourah Super-Cell physically resembles both neuron and glial cells in structure, with a central cell body and many tendril-like, branching structures. Infection In order to reproduce and grow in biomass, the Mezourah needs to infect and assimilate other life-forms. While capable of infecting nearly any organism, the Mezourah shows a strong preference for sentient life forms, as assimilating their cerebral tissue allows themselves to increase its overall intelligence. Mezourah infection is typically carried out by the larvas known as 'Deghani', which are the most simple forms encountered. Upon sighting a host, a larva will leap for the most accessible area of the victim's torso; this is typically the left side of the chest below the neck, as most combatants will expose this area while shouldering their weapon. Upon contact, the larva will bite it's way through clothing and flesh until it has burrowed into the chest cavity, mortally wounding them. As the host dies the larva will have tapped into the victim's spinal cord or other nerve center, forcing a "match" with the nerve signals previously produced by the host's living brain. To begin the physiological conversion of a host carcass, the larva injects encapsulated Super-Cells into the body. As it does so, the form analyzes the entire genetic code of its host, allowing them to determine the most effective use of the victim. Simultaneously, the inserted cells capture and break down the host body's cells into organic raw material, which is then absorbed and assimilated into the attacking Mezourah cells. The Mezourah then uses the absorbed biomass to create new masses of Super-Cells. As it continues to use the resources of the host body, particularly its calcium reserves, the parasite's own cells build upon and augment the framework of the host to produce one of a variety of Feral-Stage forms. This entire process, from the inital kill to total control over a fully mutated host body, takes only a matter of seconds. The infection process is not limited to living hosts; organisms that are already deceased are also susceptible to Infection. As long as the host has not decomposed to the point where the body and nervous system have completely deteriorated, the Mezourah can infect and convert the host. The infection utilizes the host's biological content as the fuel for its work, which is consumed and employed at prodigious speeds. From the beginning until the end of this complex, multi-step process, the infection form keeps the body "alive" by chemically isolating the host's dying brain, preventing the signals of brain death from reaching the rest of the body and causing it to shut down, which is an essential part of the parasite's mission of consuming and converting the host organism. Despite primarily relying on infection forms for acquiring host life forms, the Mezourah can infect hosts through other means. Spores, if inhaled in significant quantities, can infect a host. Even the most basic form of Mezourah genetic material is virulent; once inserted into a host, it will mutate the host's DNA over the course of generations until it is capable of forming its own Super-Cells. When infected by these secondary mechanisms, host organisms tend to mutate at a more restrained level that maintains the structure and form of the infected life form, albeit with a significant number of haphazardly placed tendrils, claws, and minor organs, such as sensory stalks. Neurological Larvas selectively target species that possess sentient intelligence and are of sufficient biomass, and can infest intact or lightly wounded dead bodies. As a host organism is killed by the initial attack, larvas will crawl their way through the host in order to find their way to the spinal cord. They then synchronize with the host's nervous system and gain control of their body, replacing its now-absent consciousness with the ravenous and voracious psyche of the Mezourah. Any useful information present within the memory centres of the host's brain, such as battle strategies and technical knowledge, is retained for use by the Mezourah. Despite this lingering of certain memories, no trace of the original mind remains; only a simplistic and primal urge to assimilate other species drives the organism after infection. In isolated cases, such as when the Mezourah seek very specific information from an individual's mind, they utilize an alternate, undescribed method of infestation that does not kill the host immediately; this allows them to "burrow" into the host's mind, eventually giving them access to the entire scope of the host's memories. If the Mezourah have amassed enough sentient hosts to form a Hivemind, then their behaviour becomes far more coordinated, and they collectively become much more deadly as a result. Physiological While baseline neurological assimilation is the same regardless of host species, the Mezourah infection process includes physiological transformations, which vary depending on the host. Upon being infected, higher-level species capable of combat are transformed into battle forms. The host's physiology is completely "re-written" during the infection process: organ-based systems are corrupted, organ-specific functions are decentralized, and body cavities are decayed, making hitbox-selective incapacitation impossible. Due to the lack of a central nervous system, decapitation will neither stop or slow a battle form. Furthermore, munitions with high speed and penetration, such as sniper rifle rounds, are usually ineffective against combat forms. Picking off selective areas of a combat form leads to no wide-scale physiological impediments, and the projectile will punch through the decayed flesh rapidly, exiting through the other side of the battle form without dealing any major damage. To facilitate melee combat, battle forms generate tentacles and claw-like structures, which protrude from the host's arms. Generally, a single arm develops into a clawed appendage, while the other retains the capacity to manipulate objects, such as firearms. The rapid growth of these structures tends to push aside and break apart the host's hands and forearms. Combat forms can strike with devastating force, move with tremendous speed and agility, and jump to great heights, displaying physical abilities far beyond those of the host organism while it was alive. The price for these formidable abilities is that the required metabolism is so rapid and extreme that the host organism's corpse is rapidly broken down by the parasite. The Mezourah sense their surroundings using pheromones, they sense which creature gives of their pheromones and attack those who don't. They are also capable of using echo location, notes of the research facility on Methiorikh theorize it creates a visual representation of the world around them and allow them to see their target, even without having to use pheromones. Countermeasures So far no countermeassures have been found, as the infection spreads too quickly trying to stop it by cutting the infected area off the body is useless. Developmental stages A Mezourah infestation currently goes through 2 known stages: #During the Feral stage, they are at their simplest form: they communicate via pheromones and have the instinct to harvest enough calcium to establish a viable Hivemind. #They become truly dangerous during the Coordinated stage: at this point, they are controlled by the Hivemind that was created in the first stage. Society According to the research made on Methiorikh the Mezourah are able to share their consciounce, after the escape of the Mezourah and the data gathered by intellicams it was revealed that the Mezourah are also able to use the host's memories if the brain was kept intact. Future battles have revealed increased intelligence, after several succesfull battles made by the Xzeron it was revealed this was due to a large collection of bodies molten together into a giant organical mass. Study has proven this mass serves a leader role, it was destroyed but several more have been discovered. Intelligence The Mezourah's intelligence can be divided into several (known) categories: *The Feral Stage: during this stage the Mezourah will try to overwhelm their foe with great numbers to gather numbers and biomass to advance to the next stage. They will reach the next stage when creating a Hivemind. *The Coordinated Stage: When a Hivemind is created the Mezourah will change tactics, they will act more strategicaly and are far more lethal. Where they once tried to overwhelm their enemy they will now try to flank it instead of charging head-on. Diet Depending on what form the Mezourah has taken they either make use of the host's present nutrients and calcium reserves when they simply have taken over a body, when they have created a form (which will always contain a strong digestive system) they would simply need flesh, they extract the needed nutrients from this to keep the biomass creatures alive. History Much of the Mezourah's history is unknown as the first known record in the Milky Way Galaxy about them was made only recently. But since they have been discovered they have been going rampant in the Large Magellanic Cloud infecting planet after planet, the Xzeron are doing their best to keep them contained as they are the sole race in the LMC that can fight them without getting infected. Opinion towards other species *Drahoni: The Drahoni are the first known race in the Milky Way Galaxy to have encountered the Mezourah, while it is unlikely they were the first they claim to do so. Relation = War. *Humans: The Human Enak Higgs encountered the Mezourah while on a Drahoni mission and was immediatly attacked by the creatures. While he is only one man he can speak for his whole species knowing that they are a threat to Humanity. Relation = War. *Xzeron: The Xzeron assisted the Drahoni during a secret mission, they were the sole race to fight them without having to worry about being infected but still suffered some casualties. Soon after the mission the Jorthanio Gevariotho informed the server of this threat and they declared war to it. Relation = War References *Biology Category:Articles by User:Horakoeri